Top Democratic lawmakers reject Trump’s denial of any connection to Roger Stone indictment

Democratic lawmakers on Friday reacted to the indictment of Roger Stone, a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump and longtime GOP strategist.

A number of prominent Democrats signaled that the indictment could be a sign that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian election interference is escalating in an unfavorable way for Trump.

When questioned about the indictment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "It is very interesting to see the kinds of people that the president of the United States has surrounded himself with."

The indictment zeroed in on Stone's communications and statements regarding WikiLeaks' controversial dump of a trove of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016.

Reacting to the news of the indictment and Stone's arrest, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "It is very interesting to see the kinds of people that the president of the United States has surrounded himself with."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler tweeted, "Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn... What did the President know and when did he know it?"

The names Nadler listed in addition to Stone's include former Trump administration employees and associates of the president, all of whom have also been caught up in Mueller's probe into Russian election interference and allegations the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement said Friday's indictment "is the latest sign that the special counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections is having real, tangible results."

Feinstein added, "The indictment of Roger Stone, a friend and advisor of then-candidate Trump, charges him with lying to Congress about the release of Democratic emails hacked by Russians. These are serious charges."

The California senator noted the indictment referenced the "Trump campaign" 24 times, even as the White House responded to the charges against Stone by saying they had nothing to do with the president.

Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff in a statement said the indictment "provides new and important detail about the Trump campaign's effort to acquire dirt on Hillary Clinton, which Wikileaks possessed in the form of thousands of emails stolen from her campaign by agents of the Kremlin."

Schiff added, "It also details the extent to which Mr. Stone knew about Wikileaks' future releases of stolen emails, and lied to our committee about it. Most significant is the allegation that a senior campaign official was 'directed' in July 2016 to contact Mr. Stone about additional Wikileaks releases. "

The congressman added the House Intelligence Committee will be "eager" to learn who this senior campaign official is.

Stone has been charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 on the nature of his communications with WikiLeaks and attempting to tamper with a witness. He's denying the charges against him.